Central bankers never forget

Jackson during his president had a distrust for The Second Bank of the United States. He thought it unconstitutional for a private corporation that answered to shareholders and its board of directors to handle the money of the government and make a profit from it. Much like today’s Federal Reserve.

Even former Fed chief Ben Bernanke was crowing about this development yesterday on his blog.

So in 1832, when Congressmen Henry Clay and Daniel Webster introduced a bill to grant a new 20-year charter for the bank, Jackson vetoed the measure.

In 1836, the charter expired and the US government used state-chartered banking firms to handle Uncle Sam’s banking needs. The period between 1836 and 1863 became known as The Free Banking Era.

It would not be until 1913 that the Federal Reserve would be created by powerful banking families with ties to central banks across Europe.

No disrespect to Harriet Tubman, but this has more to do with the central bank finally getting back at Jackson than acknowledging an abolitionist and “The Underground Railroad” creator.